Portable electronic devices for the storage and retrieval of information, such as notebook computers, have become smaller and more lightweight in recent years. As a result of this trend, the use of memory cards has become popular. Memory cards are used as a storage medium for data, and can readily be inserted into and removed from most portable information storage and retrieval devices.
Most memory cards employ semiconductors for the storage of data. These types of cards, however, are relatively expensive and possess relatively low data-storage capacity. These limitations have lead to the development of data storage devices which utilize a magnetic storage medium placed inside a memory-card-type cartridge.
To increase the portability of information storage and retrieval devices, magnetic data storage devices are being produced in increasingly smaller sizes. In particular, thinner designs are continually being sought due to the direct relationship between thickness and portability. Such reductions in size, however, reduce the structural stiffness of the storage device. This reduction in stiffness makes deformation of the device more likely upon the application of external forces, thereby increasing the chances for damage to the device itself or to the information stored in the device. Thus, a need exists for a small, thin magnetic storage device with sufficient structural stiffness to resist externally-applied forces without undergoing significant deformation.